Adelaide: Short Stories of a Heritor
by DarkAres
Summary: Various shorts following Adelle, everyone's favorite Heritor.
1. Adelle in Wonderland

_Okay, so this was part of audition for Adelle (of Final Fantasy Tactics A2) on a RP site I was on. As it recently closed, this seems to count as fan fiction now. At least to me. _

_So yeah. It's an example of what would happen if Adelle was in the world of Kingdom Hearts. Wonderland, in this scenario._

_Hope you enjoy!  
_

* * *

Scenario: Adelle in Wonderland

It was ironic, really.

The past few months she had been travelling, Adelle had been told to avoid Wonderland due to the bizarre laws in place there. Well, she hadn't so much been _told_ as she had simply eavesdropped on someone else's conversation, but that wasn't the point. She had heard the laws in Wonderland were dangerous.

And while she now stood on trial mere hours after landing, she couldn't help but smile. In all her travels, no world quite matched the law system of Ivalice. It was this world that people called "bizarre" which reminded her most of home.

"So for the crime of stealing my most precious treasure, you must either pay a fine of one hundred...million...billion...thousand Munny. Otherwise, it's off with your head!" the Queen of Hearts announced, no doubt making up the Munny value as she went.

Obviously Adelle didn't have that kind of Munny. The cat-themed girl doubted even this queen had that kind of Munny. That wasn't to say Adelle was poor, oh no. She had exchanged a good amount of Gil for Munny at the exchange station in Traverse Town.

And she had visited said station again at night to "borrow" some extra funds.

Nonetheless, she wouldn't be able to pay. And it didn't seem like she could reason her way out of this normal. That was one annoying difference between the laws of Ivalice and Wonderland: the law was willing to kill you here.

Standing atop the podium in the castle courtyard, Adelle looked down at the many card soldiers carrying spears below her. And the Queen of Hearts, seated quite far above her with Adelle's weapons beside her. They had been confiscated when the soldiers (it was the seven of spades, Adelle seemed to remember) captured her in the Lotus Forest. The cat-girl had come to this planet in the first place in search of Luso, but apparently she had bad timing.

Now there were two ways to handle this; work her way through the judicial system, or go into fight mode. She could quite easily fight her way out of this now that she had finally accepted and honed the instincts of her Gifted heritage. Yes, she could see it now...summon up her two swords, jump off the podium, blast a Lennart through the crowd of cards to her left (there seemed to be less soldiers there) and escape into the Lotus Forest and back towards her airship. She doubted the cards could put up much of a fight, after all.

But that wasn't her plan. Because in the end, it simply wasn't her style.

Adelee preferred some more subtly. And she knew just how far a little charm could get her in the right situation. And this certainly seemed like one of those situations.

"Your Majesty, I could never steal from you! Someone as intelligent as you could never be outwitted by such an insignificant girl such as me." Adelle started, staring up at the Queen of Hearts as tears began to form in the cat-girl's eyes.

Yes, it looked like this queen would respond to flattery well. Though Adelle was quite disappointed with her. With a title like "Queen of Hearts", Adelle had expected a beautiful woman to greet her. Not as beautiful as the cat-girl, of course. That was impossible.

And yet before her stood a woman who was as hideous as she was stupid. She shivered at the thought of what the king must look like if he had chosen _this _as a queen.

"I didn't want to say this before, because I was afraid it would get him in trouble, but..." Adelle continued, still working up those watery eyes, "That soldier...the seven of spades. I think he was the one who truly stole your treasure."

A gasp erupted from all those around her, though the queen still had a serious face on. She was not impressed with this. Mr. Seven of Spades was taken aback by this as well, but didn't say a word. He knew better than to cut off his queen.

"You see, I came here because I had heard legends about you, your Majesty. Legends of how your great beauty is surpassed only by your great intelligence. I thought if I could get just a chance to meet you, it may make my insignificant life meaningful. But that mean old soldier! I saw him trying to steal something from your castle, and begged him to stop!"

Adelle had broken into full tears by this point and took a break to wipe her eyes before continuing.

But instead he said he would pin the blame on me! I told him it would never work, as our queen is too wise, but he didn't believe me! And to top it off, he even stole my sapphire necklace! It was a fight I was bringing to you, your Majesty."

The queen was beginning to be convinced by this point, and ordered some soldiers to search Mr. Seven of Spades. And sure enough, there was a sapphire necklace hidden away on his person.

"You brought this for me? It's quite lovely. I...suppose a girl with as great a taste in people couldn't possibly have stolen anything from me. Especially not considering how stupid you are."

"Yes, of course." Adelle smiled, though she was getting quite angry in her mind.

Patience. That's all she needed right now. Just a little more patience.

"Guards, seize that soldier! And return this poor girl her possessions. Except the necklace. I shall be taking that."

The soldiers agreed, half taking Mr. Seven of Spades into custody and the other half bringing the two blades over to Adelle, who accepted it while wiping away more tears.

"Thank you. I knew the legends of your greatness were true." Adelle smiled, her sharp yellow eyes not stopping the waterworks.

And as she walked off back into the Lotus Forest and towards her airship, a smile was still on her face.

She may not have found Luso...

"But I did find a nice souvenir."

From a deep pocket, Adelle took out a gem-encrusted ring with an inscription on it.

"Queen of Hearts"


	2. Within the Battle

_Bonus! Well, this is the other part of that audition, this time set in her own world of Ivalice._

_Note: The following scenario occurs before Adelle really "accepts" her powers_

* * *

"Oh my, a pearl blade. What a true waste of such gorgeous gems. So...why do I still feel so off?"

The silver-haired girl got to her feet as she picked up the pearl-encrusted weapon. A small figure lay at her feet, knocked unconscious from a deep wound through its armor. It was a Moogle Knight, and in any other situation it would have been dead. But then the magic of the judges prevented needless deaths.

No, the laws said a win was taken when all the enemies were knocked unconscious. The silver-haired girl was especially pleased with this, as it allowed her to rob her foes blind while they slept under the judge's protection. Although to be fair, even being aware of her presence wasn't enough to stop Adelle the Cat.

"It's a crime to fight with Time Magic, yet nothing is stopping me from stealing. The laws are truly a thing of beauty sometimes." she smiled, checking under the Moogle's battered armor for any Grimoire Stones. Now those were true treasures.

Which meant she could sell them off for a truly amazing price, if she knew where to sell.

Who was she kidding? Of COURSE she knew where to sell! This was hardly her first time doing this.

Deciding she had looted the Moogle for all he was worth, Adelle slipped the pearl blade into its scabbard (also stolen from the hapless knight) and strapped it onto her back. The only real problem with stealing was carrying everything off the battlefield. But the fact that her personal weapon (a Rondell Dagger) could be easily stored did make things a little simpler.

This battle in itself was surprisingly large, forcing her clan to split up in their efforts to fight. Which of course simply made things easier for Adelle. While the others did all the fighting, she could find the fallen soldiers and take her fill of treasure.

"It's not like they have any right to complain. I give them almost ten percent of my profits! This clan would be out of money if I wasn't around."

And for all her comrades knew, she was fighting. It wasn't like she had a problem using her knife. No, quite the contrary. She was an amazing fighter.

Perhaps too amazing.

Yes, this particular Moogle Knigt was not just leftovers from an ally. He had actually had the nerve to sneak up on her. Her! Just who did this little excuse for a teddy-bear think he was dealing with?

Her knife had flashed through his armor with unnatural power. It was the surprise, Adelle realized. The surprise had prevented her from holding back her true power.

"That must be what's bugging me. My stupid "gift". Guess I haven't lost it yet."

It had been so long since she thought about it. Even before meeting Luso and Cid, she had gone a good while forgetting. It was hard to some, but there were ways around it. The best way proved to be overcoming it with the thrill of stealing. In the end, that's all her stealing was, wasn't it?

Sure, she used her money to buy her beautiful cat-themed clothing and the best food she could find, but it wasn't as simple as that. It was almost a release for her. Or rather...an addiction.

She couldn't stop stealing.

She wouldn't.

There was no reason to at this point of her life. Adelle even had allies now to protect her when things became truly dangerous.

And perhaps over time...they could become friends.

"...I'm obviously going to have to charge them for that."


End file.
